Common behavior
by Angelina Riviere
Summary: The media is delighted, Ron is worried, Hermione has her own problems to focus on. And Harry doesn't understand what the fuss is about. HGHP. Will be a multy-chapter. Warnings: OOC
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

...

_Walking down the slopes covered in deep snow  
>Take me by the hand looking at the stones<br>Whispers of the trees swinging from the wind  
>Will sing funny songs only we can hear<br>Mesmerized by nature, lost in fairy tale  
>We will stand together in the world of grey<br>Bushes bare and wrinkled shuffle in the sleep  
>Know your heart is mine, only mine to keep<br>Skiving off all duties, challenging the fate  
>We will change the future going through the gate<br>Here in sleeping hollow we don't have to rush  
>Like the hounds of hell want us to be crushed<br>Spirits of the garden on the plate with gold rim  
>Give all we wanted, our every whim<br>Under the omela up the knees with snow  
>We will kiss and branches will look like a crown<br>Undulating shadows of the silent stones  
>Won't tell our secret to a single soul.<em>

...

The Diagon Alley was lively as usual, unlike Hermione. Though meeting with Ron and Harry seemed to work as a soothing balsam on her exhausted nerves...and to think she had been actually looking forward to the summer. After last year they all were in serious need of a break and the girl decided to try and make the best of her holidays. That, however, proved to be unexpectedly hard. Of all the near death experiences that the so called golden trio had so far been faced with the ministry affair affected Hermione the most. The events of that night haunted her like a ghost, tormenting the girl during her sleeping and waking hours alike. Although she would probably never say it aloud, the battle and the aftermath scared her far more than she let show, it shook her to the core. For the first time she sensed the stinky breath of death and looked in the void of her eyes. For the first time did she truly realize the help could come too late to make any difference. In their first exploits it was not only Harry and Ron after all who didn't dwell too much on the possible dangers. While desperately trying to sound responsible and grown-up Hermione was just as reckless as her friends (who's idea was it again to steal a couple of ingredients from the most feared professor, secretly brew a potion and sneak into the enemy's dorms or distract a werewolf by whistling). But deep down she always believed that as cliché as it might sound everything was going to be alright, the good would come on top and the evil would scramble away in shame. There was always hope and there was always at least some poor plan. (And frankly speaking it was Harry not her usually standing in the front line). A nice childish fantasy, it was dispelled by the rattle of shattered glass hitting the floor and the roar of voices shouting curses, the illusion of safety was gone with the tip of the enemy's wand touching her neck. Then she could hardly make out any faces or words, the blood was rushing and pumping in her ears making her dizzy and wobbly.

_Everything was a blur, moving too fast and too slow at the same time. Like a demonic phantasmagoria of horror depicted by Dante. She distinguished a pale face of Ginny who was struggling in the arms of another death eater, red hair nicely underlying the girl's high cheekbones, casually noticed that Harry's lips set in a firm line didn't really add up with desperation shining in his eyes and that she would really like to... Small unimportant thoughts kept flowing rapidly through Hermione's mind, all equally useless, till one settled in: they were going to die and she was helpless, she wouldn't get to say sorry to mum with whom she had had a minor argument, or finish the letter that lay on the bottom of her trunk or find out whether it is really better to drink dark chocolate together with milk...The faces of her loved ones deeply engraved in her mind Hermione suddenly wished with all her might that they were lucky once more... and then the aurors appeared._

Hermione shook her head emerging from a flashback and sighed, this vivid memories would be the death of her. Though they were actually not so annoying as other stuff she was forced to deal with. Who could have thought she would get so overly emotional! And over what, she hadn't even seen Voldemort, Harry was faced with situations far more dangerous than that on a yearly basis and didn't seem to be fazed by them at all. He only ever worried about people around him getting hurt. The girl suddenly blushed having forgotten in her troubled state about the misery her friend must be going through. To lose his godfather, the last close link to his parents whom he considered to be his only family must be devastating.

Hermione nervously tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and tried to concentrate, wondering with a little doleful smile if she should start looking for some meditation courses. The were appearances to keep and reputations to uphold. And she just could not continue being the best while this absent-minded.

Hermione chanced a look at Harry who was blissfully unaware of her inner struggle. Probably having a battle of his own, she deduced , it was logical, but... Now that Hermione thought about it she hadn't seen a single trace of distress on her friend's face since she first set her eyes on him. On the contrary, he seemed unusually careless and of excitement and anxiety she didn't pay any heed to it at first, now though with her problems put to freeze for the time being the girl's tired mind desperately needing an outlet dashed to solve this new mystery. Thousands of ideas flooded Hermione's mind. Looking for a reaction she tried bringing up the subject of Harry's living arrangements, which would inevitably remind him of the last year and was sorely disappointed. Harry brushed the matter off altogether with a flippant remark and went back to discussing some boring quidditch match. Hermione was fuming, feeling something dark stir inside. Harry didn't have the right to be so casual about all this, it was too soon to move on. Or was it just an act? Or you are jealous - a little voice whispered in the back of her mind - that they got over what happened and you didn't. It should be you here comforting them, not the other way round. Hermione started and broke this train of thoughts, cutting the inner voice till it could elaborate. It was becoming frightening as well as annoying the lack of control she had over herself. And most importantly, she simply wasn't jealous, no way she would harbor any dislike towards Harry, on the contrary, she would be happy for her friend and support him in any way she could just like always. She most certainly wouldn't act like Ron during the Three Wizard Tournament and commit the same mistakes. Everything was fine, she just needed a decent sleep.

Hermione sighed as she noticed little dark stains on her trench coat. It was raining again. So much for a sunny day.

...

Harry, Ron and Hermione were standing in the middle of a bookshop engrossed in a conversation over school. When Ron caught sight of Malfoy and his mother going down the road in a hurry. "The Ferret in the rain" - laughed Harry halfheartedly remembering a certain Van Gogh picture and turned back to the potions book he was flipping. Ron looked at Hermione and saw something akin to disappointment flash through her eyes. Her lips were pursed and had he not known better he would have thought she was about to pout. It must have been the light.

"Where would they go?" - mused Ron aloud looking longingly out of the window. He was burning with curiosity and wanted to follow the couple, but didn't feel any inclination to face Hermione's mentor-mood. He would no doubt lose the argument especially without Harry to back him up. Speaking of which:

Harry... complained Ron than coughed twice to rub off all notion of the whiny note that was threatening to settle in his voice. Really, he needed to stop chatting with his sister so much. And continued nonchalantly:

"You have been reading for half an hour now, the sellers are looking funny at us."

He was rewarded with a thoughtful and doubtlessly meaningful "hm". Harry clearly didn't take the hint and Ron tried a more direct approach, that's to say he snatched the book out of his friends hand, ignoring the other's indignant exclamation and briskly set for the cash desk all the way muttering about golden boys getting interested in potions all of a sudden and about the excuse "Snape will for sure eat me this year alive" being just lame, as it seemed from Harry's own words there would be another teacher and...They were finally out of the shop. Ron stretched his back and inhaled deeply enjoying the rain drops sliding down his neck. A nice change from the stifling heat of the shop. Something was...

"Have you seen Hermione?"-Harry was walking at his side.

... amiss.

"She got tired of you ignoring us in favor of a book and left? " - Ron offered helpfully ( and hopeful to wake his friend's Griffindor consciousness: the one that prevented the lions from studying too much).

Harry looked skeptical : "Right, or maybe it was your whining that made her remember she had business somewhere else" and then without pause the youth added "It reminds me: I have to go to the Gringotts, see you later at our cafe". Ron made a sharp intake of air about to retort but found himself standing on the street alone.

...

Hermione silently exited the shop and followed the Malfoys. It didn't look like her friends would notice her absence any time soon and she could always tell them she got captivated by some book in the farthest section. The girl didn't know why this chase was so important to her. Granted, following the son and the mother of a known death eater could prove beneficial, but - and she didn't want to lie to herself - it was not what urged her to disregard the socially accepted rules, sneak through the back streets and risk slipping on a mud puddle completely ruining her attire. The boots that had coast her parents a little fortune were stained with dirt, her hair was a mess and Hermione didn't look forward to disentangling it. A strong pull kept dragging her down the street, and the premonition of something life-changing happening increased with each step.

to be continued ...


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Author's note: sorry for any mistakes, English is not my native language) Please enjoy)

...

Crafty traps, forgotten paths  
>That one would not find on maps;<br>Twinkling light, unfocused gaze,  
>World is fading in the haze...<br>Eyes are closed, the night is over  
>Owls are sleeping in their covers.<p>

...

Hermione sat on her bed with a start, her heart beating furiously. Her chest burned with lack of oxygen as she desperately gasped for air. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes threatening to spill. She clenched the blanket and concentrated on breathing. After a while her frame relaxed a bit and the breathing became less labored. Hermione fell limply on the fluffy pillows and absentmindedly looked at the roof. A sun ray entered in the room through the slit in the curtains and created a passage of light in which specks of dust floated idly. Everything was quiet. With shaking hands the girl rubbed her face and moved the sweat coated locks out of the way, her head was throbbing with pain yet again.

Rolling to the side Hermione opened a drawer and pulled out a thick silver bracelet with engraved symbols and regarded it carefully. It seemed ordinary, you could buy something like that in a muggle shop. She traced the symbols with her fingers, oddly finding the action soothing. The bracelet glittered in the sun, the symbols becoming even more prominent. That legend...was nonsense, not worth dwelling on. Yet as she found herself falling sleep once again, she couldn't decide whether she was relieved or disappointed.

...

Double-potions with Slytherins was hell come on earth. It was a general truth. The general rule. Something that wasn't supposed to change ever. Yet here he was sitting through his most hated class absently flipping a quidditch magazine and distractedly listening to the shouting coming from his left. A girl in a green robe was desperately trying to revert her hair to its original color and length, and failing miserably. Even though Ron's knowledge of complex (and not very much so) potions was awfully limited he didn't think that you could neutralize that easily the effect of the slightly blackish substance boiling in the cauldron in front of the miserable soul. Not by simply waving your hand and uttering an incantation anyway. Even if the waving resembled the motion of the vanes of a windmill in the storm. And the incantations were composed of unintelligible threats screeched in a way that would make a banshee proud. A few Gryffindors were laughing, a few Slytherins were sneering and the rest just ignored the situation for the time being finding better things to do in the commotion.

Out of the corner of his eyes Ron caught the professor - the new professor, Snape would have eaten them all alive by now- massage his temples in despair. He didn't have the slightest idea how to stop the chaos and obviously wished for either to get the shouting girl out or at the very least get out himself, and preferably for good. He didn't seem to notice that his feet became entangled in the blue curving locks that reached the floor a while ago and now kept growing, literally rooting professor to the spot.

Yes, it was fun for the first two times. The third wasn't too bad either. Ron sighed and tossed the magazine aside glancing at his best friend who sat unperturbed at the other side of the classroom and dutifully answered the swarm of questions thrown at him. No, he didn't see anything weird going on with the potion. Yes, they were adding the ingredients in the necessary order. Yes, the potion seemed to be turning out just fine. And NO, he couldn't even conceive what could have brought on the explosion and the change of the potion's effects.

Just as Harry dutifully answered the questions, Slughorn dutifully nodded his head. Of course, his best student and a hopeful addition to his collection was not all-seeing. He certainly couldn't be held accountable for another's mistake. That had just been an unfortunate accident. Never-mind that it was the fifth accident within a month. Never-mind that every time something went wrong Harry was near. Never-mind, because despite the professor watching the golden boy like a hawk in his classes, in spite of him spending sleepless nights trying to solve the riddle by the name of Harry Potter, he still had no explanation of how a schoolboy could possibly be able to brew prank potions instead of normal ones right before his eyes without being caught.

Ron smirked for a moment, wondering if maybe Harry's sudden interest in "the sophisticated art of brewing" wouldn't be such a waste of time as he had initially thought. Afterall, even the likes of Malfoy now were bothering the trio less...Well not really. Then he frowned again, remembering why exactly he was unenthusiastic about the whole affair.

The lesson continued normally with Harry looking blankly at some blot on the desk and Hermione, who had at some point taken the place of the banshee-girl, looking with equal disinterest out of the window. Granger traced lightly the crack in the windowsill as Harry began to hum some sort of melody, and Ron tried to fight the sleep, but couldn't help dozing off. Slughorn was lecturing. A blurry shape of a bird appeared in the sky and was gone in a second. Harry made a flippant remark about the wonders of flying ( his favorite topic this days). Ron mumbled something and rested his head on his elbows. Hermione bit her lip and started drumming her fingers on the table.

"Did you hear about the new quidditch program?"- a Gryffindor from the back line whispered loudly to her friend and giggled.

"Silence!"- The sudden shout of the poor professor who had finally understood that being strict and fearsome was the only way to survive in this mayhem startled the students into obedience. Ron scrambled to his feet from the floor, rubbing his eyes furiously and complaining all the while about heart-attacks. Everyone tuned his whining out and Slughorn continued with his lecture.

Suddenly Hermione clasped her hands together and smiled triumphantly. Ron shuddered a bit, the grin inexplicably making him uneasy. Though he guessed it was a way better, not to mention less frightening, than the empty stares Hermione used to give him and Harry sometimes. Ron turned to his friend and found him looking at Granger with a strange expression on his face. It seemed almost wistful. The notion caused Weasley to shift in his chair, take a deep breath and shake his head banishing weird thoughts. The sultry weather must be getting to him...Then again that determined light in her eyes did suit her.


End file.
